Profile for Quentin Smith, PhD, BA

Quentin Smith, PhD, BA

Biography

Quentin Smith’s primary research interests are focused on assessing and ultimately improving drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier for the treatment of brain tumors, stroke, and neurodegenerative disease. He has established highly sensitive, regio-specific methods to map the distribution of low levels of bound and free drug in brain and brain metastases of breast cancer following systemic drug administration in animals. His lab is dissecting the roles of key BBB transporters in controlling brain and brain metastasis exposure of drugs. Also, he is working on developing and evaluating modified drugs that are specifically designed to circumvent the BBB. Both novel carrier vectors to deliver conventional drugs and rational design of drug modifications that retain chemotherapeutic activity while circumventing the transporters that limit brain access are being investigated. Research is funded by the Cancer Prevention Research Incentive of Texas (CPRIT), DoD, NIH, and numerous collaborations with industry.